Playoffs Game 3 tri-MVPs: Dunston, Ayon and Doncic

Game 3 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs was just too big for only one player to take the MVP honor, so for the first time ever in this phase, three of them are sharing it! Bryant Dunston of Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Real Madrid teammates Gustavo Ayon and Luka Doncic all played central roles in Game 3 victories that gave their teams 2-1 leads in the best-of-five playoffs. The three tied for the highest performance index rating, 23, on the four winning teams in Game 3. Dunston reached that number first with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 9 rebounds as Efes outlasted Olympiacos Piraeus 64-60 at home on Wednesday. Later that night, as Madrid bested Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul 81-88 on the road, Ayon totaled 18 points, 9 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals while Doncic recorded 13 points and 8 rebounds. It marks the third time that Doncic has at least shared the MVP award, but is the first such honor this season for both Ayon and Dunston. The highest index rating for Game 3 actually came from Ante Zizic of Darussafaka, whose 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks gave him a rating of 28 in a losing effort. Two more players also had index ratings of 23 in defeat: Zizic's Darussafaka teammate, Brad Wanamaker, who posted 17 points and 9 assists; and Toko Shengelia of Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz, who recorded 19 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals in an 88-90 loss that qualified CSKA Moscow to the Final Four.

Individual leaders: Jan Vesely of Fenerbahce Istanbul, 4 blocks

Two guards proved their teams have a wealth of scoring options by sharing the highest point total for Game 3: Jaycee Carroll of Madrid and Cory Higgins of CSKA each peppered the nets for 21 points in victory. Wanamaker is now the top scorer for the playoffs with 19.7 points per game. Fenerbahce Istanbul big man Ekpe Udoh collected 10 rebounds to top all players for Game 3 as his team reached the Final Four with a 79-61 win over Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens . He added 10 points for the lone double-double of the round. Efes forward Tyler Honeycutt sits atop the playoffs rebounding charts with 8.7 boards per game. Honeycutt also swiped 4 balls and shares first place in the playoffs with 2.0 steals per game with James Augustine of CSKA and Adam Hanga of Baskonia. Wanamaker’s 9 assists were also the most in Game 3. Olympiacos great Vassilis Spanoulis is averaging 6.7 per game to lead the playoffs assist-makers. Jan Vesely of Fenerbahce rejected 4 shots for an average of 1.7 in the playoffs, second to only Udoh (2.0 bpg.).